Two things before you start reading: 1) The photo at left is by Ted Hesser a photographer from the Bay Area who was brilliant in positioning himself for this memorable shot. Check out his photos at his site. 2) This post is not about the eclipse. It's about how the Bolt performed on our first truly significant trip (well beyond the 400 miles we often drive in a day).

If you've read my previous posts on the #BoltEV in my Electric Vehicles category, you know that we regularly take what most people would consider long trips for an electric vehicle (EV). But a trip from Santa Cruz to Oregon for the eclipse would be well over 1200 miles. We had confidence in the Bolt, and we'd read Harvey Payne's account of his trip from southern California to Oregon posted in the Facebook Chevy Bolt Owner's Group forum. That gave us a big leg up.

However, we wanted to be prepared. We used Plugshare to lay out the trip and where we would need to charge, along with alternates in case a station was occupied or not working. We decided that for this trip we'd be conservative and not push the range of the Bolt. Personally, I was a bit worried about the drive over Siskiyou Summit, especially for the trip back where you climb from Ashland to the summit in about 10 very steep miles. The charging plan was step one in our preparations.

During one of our regular 175-mile drives to our place in the Sierra, I narrowly avoided hitting a sharp piece of scrap metal on highway 580 going down Altamont Pass. Unfortunately, several other vehicles were on the side of the road with blown-out tires. We decided then and there, as we looked at the 110 degree temperature outside, that we didn't want to take a chance on flat in the middle of the desert in eastern Oregon. So, we bought a full-sized spare for the Bolt.

Full-sized spare wheel and tire

And it fits under the back cover

As you can see from the photos above, it fits nicely (deflated a bit) in the space in the back under the removable cover. And, it provides a nice place to store our portable EVSE and J1772 extension cable with space left for the lug wrench, jack, compressor, and our disc golf equipment.

We packed food and emergency supplies and were ready for our Bolt's longest trip.

Just before leaving, a contractor contacted us to say he could start work on the decks at our place in the mountains, so we decided to head up there before making our way to Oregon. As usual, our 175-mile drive in the Bolt was uneventful. Even with the 4000' altitude gain - we averaged over 4 mi/kWh.

As often happens, the contractor didn't show. We took advantage of his absence to continue up to Kirkwood for some disc golf among the seemingly infinite fields of wild flowers. ​

Wildflowers in a Kirkwood disc golf fairway

Karen's second shot after landing in a creek

The next day we left our place in the Sierra fully charged and found ourselves caught in Sacramento traffic. We stopped in Corning to get a bit of a bump before continuing the 100 miles to Yaks in Dunsmuir for lunch and a charge. Next stop Ashland where, based on Harvey Payne's recommendation, we'd spend the night at The Palm Cottages and take advantage of their free charging. Since I-97 has no fast charging stations, very few J1772 stations, and with eclipse traffic, we knew that all campgrounds were full (no available connections for our NEMA 14-50 EVSE), we decided to meet Karen's daughter and son-in-law in Eugene (instead of going directly to Bend) where we could plug our EVSE into their dryer outlet overnight before heading over to Bend, an easy 130 miles away.

The trip from Ashland to Eugene was uneventful and the next morning we drove through the rolling hills/mountains of southern Oregon on our 180-mile final leg to Eugene. In addition to the charging advantages, this detour gave us a chance to dine at the always amazing Rye on 3rd in Eugene, where we started with the Poutine (a decadent Canadian dish composed of French fries topped with duck confit and cheese), and ended with their house made chocolates paired with whiskies - mine was dark chocolate caramel paired with W.L. Weller special reserve.

But I diverge...

Karen had the brilliant idea to track our kwH usage between fast charging stations (or their exits if we didn't stop) and other key landmarks that we passed to help others better plan their trips along I-5 over Siskiyou Summit, and to show us exactly how much, and when, we needed to charge on future trips. Here are the stats for Sacramento to Eugene and Eugene to Santa Cruz. ​

The idea is that you can look at distances between charging stations, look at how many kWh remain in your battery, and then decide where you want to stop to charge.

To put this into perspective, we had two people in the Bolt plus the spare wheel and provisions and toys for our trip. We drive at roughly 5 mph over the speed limit on highways in California (at the speed limit elsewhere), and pretty much right on the speed limit everywhere in Oregon.

Fair warning, although our trip up to Eugene was completely uneventful, our trip back wasn't (note the detour to Chico). On the way back after a full charge using the dryer outlet, we spent the night in Ashland again, and anticipated topping up at Yaks in Dunsmuir, thinking we could make it 211 miles (with a lot of downhill) to the EVgo charger in the Vacaville outlet mall, and then home - just 3 stops total for the trip from Eugene to Santa Cruz. But, as we found out, Yak's charger is powered off when they're closed (we should have paid attention to the station hours). No problem, right? We'll just charge at the Olive Pit in Corning and have lunch there.

No such luck. While the Olive Pit charger worked on our way up, it was down on our way back. We called Chargepoint and worked with them for a good half hour to no avail. James, the Olive Pit owner came out to try to help, but no luck. He had some serious complaints about Chargepoint service, but then told us he was still planning to add a new, higher kW charger next to the current one. He's a great guy who's looking at purchasing an EV himself, so stop by the Olive Pit if you're passing to thank him for the charging stations and his support of EVs.

With Corning down, we thought we'd just have to make it the 50 miles to Williams to charge at the Carl's Jr. there, but it wasn't showing up on Plugshare (I had the 'available' filter on). I called Chargepoint, and they admitted that Williams was down too. I asked about the one in Redding (thinking we might backtrack), and apparently it was flaky - three charging stations, each over 50 miles apart that were down! That could give anyone range anxiety.

But fortunately, Harvey Payne had mentioned the solar-powered, free charging station at the Sierra Nevada Brewery in Chico. Quite frankly, the detour was worth it because of the superb lunch we had there. We charged for a bit over an hour, drove to Vacaville, charged for a bit less than an hour and raced home to Santa Cruz using our new (free for EVs) FastPass Express Lane pass to bypass most of the Bay Area commute traffic.

We learned a lot on this trip. First and foremost, the Bolt continues to surprise us with its range. Using the numbers we charted, it's clear we can optimize our charge times on future trips. Next, although we did plot alternative stations, we didn't anticipate 3 successive stations being down by double checking availability. And, we didn't pay attention to station operating hours. Had we done that, we'd have left Ashland later, charged at Yaks over lunch, then only at Vacaville to make it home. And finally, I'm beginning to change the opinion I expressed about whether a Bolt can be your primary vehicle. The Bolt is our primary vehicle. Our Audi has been collecting dust since the end of ski season. Once there's an affordable all-wheel electric with the Bolt's range, we'll trade in the Audi and will go all-electric.

A last story about the eclipse for those of you who didn't go.

According to our friends and relatives in Oregon, the news had been warning about the Apoceclipse - they said that because of millions of anticipated eclipse visitors, there would be food and gas shortages along with crippling traffic jams. We did know that all hotels, rentals, and campgrounds were full, so it seemed somewhat plausible.

But on the Friday before the eclipse, we drove over highway 58 from Eugene to Bend where we had rented an AirBnB (about 130 miles) and there was no traffic at all. We pulled into Crux, our son-in-law's favorite Bend brewery. We'd eaten there before and they have a great menu. Unfortunately, when the menus came, there were only a few items on it. We asked the server about our missing favorites and she said they would return on Monday. Because of the forecast Apoceclipse, they, along with most restaurants in Bend, had reduced their menus to the minimum so that they could more quickly prepare food for the predicted crowds. Unfortunately, those crowds never materialized. It seemed like a normal summer weekend in Bend.

On the day of the eclipse, we drove up to a place in the desert to the east of Madras where we experienced 2 minutes of totality. If you want what I think is a good account of a total eclipse, read my first novel The Silicon Lathe. In it, I describe the awe of a 7-minute total eclipse.

On our way back to Bend, we detoured a couple of miles to visit stunning Smith Rock (in the picture above) for a short hike. Upon returning to Bend, we munched appetizers and sipped cool drinks at a table next to the Deschutes river at the River House. Our drive back to Eugene the next morning was uneventful.

If you get a chance to see a total eclipse, don't miss it. Don't be afraid of the extra hassle to get into the zone of totality. The difference between 99.9% and 100% is literally the difference between day and night. At 100% the stars come out and you can look directly at the sun and all the seemingly miraculous phenomena that come with totality. Our entire family, who was enthralled by this eclipse, is now making plans to go to Argentina for a 4-minute eclipse in 2019. Maybe we'll see you there!

We were reluctant to leave Brittany with its spectacular coastline and its peaceful grounded atmosphere, but Karen had never seen the Loire Valley, so we headed east, leaving the rolling hills of Brittany for the flatlands surrounding the Loire.

We decided to break up the nearly four and a half hour drive from Plougrescant to Amboise with a stop at L'Arche de la nature park near Le Mans for a quick round of disc golf. Surprisingly, Le Mans has 8 disc golf courses - the highest concentration of disc golf courses in France. The temperature was in the low 80s (around 28 degrees C) with a light breeze. We found the very wooded course well marked, challenging, and beautiful. Highly recommended for any disc golfers passing through the area.

Great signage on the course.

Karen's drive on a 160 meter hole.

It was only an hour's drive from Le Mans to Amboise and we easily found our hotel, the Hotel Clos D'Amboise. We pulled into the narrow, gated courtyard, parked, and checked in with the very welcoming staff. At first glance, we were quite pleased with our room in the former carriage house of an old estate with its double french doors looking out onto a small garden at the side of the courtyard. The bathroom was a bit strange - about 4 feet wide and perhaps 15 feet long - very narrow and hard to move around in but the room itself seemed charming.

After reading reviews of the hotel's restaurant, we had made reservations for a table on their patio next to the garden. The food was excellent, the service impeccable, and the location next to the gardens ideal. Our only surprise was that every table around us was occupied by Americans.

We're used to spending time in France but we hadn't ever encountered so many Americans in one place. During our entire visit to Brittany, we hadn't heard a word of English. In the Basque region, we occasionally hear British English and rarely encounter Americans, so it was a big surprise to be completely surrounded by English speakers. As we would discover during our off-season stay here in the Loire Valley, most of the people we would encounter were American tourists. ​We had a nice conversation with a couple at the next table, but couldn't help being disturbed by a classic 'ugly American' a few tables away. In a very loud voice, this investment adviser was trying to convince his clients to turn the rest of their portfolio over to him to manage. Fortunately, the obviously wealthy client wasn't having any of it. Unfortunately, the over-the-top high pressure sales pitch went on for nearly two hours.

But I diverge. After dinner, we strolled on the banks of the Loire taking in the peaceful river and the looming Chateau d'Amboise (more on that in a bit). Returning to the hotel after the late sunset, we strolled the beautiful gardens of the property and then went back to the room just as they were closing the front gates.

Karen above the Loire at sunset.

As we discovered during the rest of our stay, our room was not situated in the best place. The double French doors didn't insulate us from the outside noise of people gathering or passing through the courtyard to their rooms. If the gates were open, road noise was substantial and being on the ground floor, we were subject to the pounding of the elephants occupying the room above us. Overall, in spite of the friendly, helpful staff, and great restaurant, the room was a negative for us.

For our first morning we had visions of doing some stand up paddling on the Loire, sort of following up on the paddling we'd done near Plougrescant in Brittany. As we learned after an extensive search of places to put in, the current is much too fast for stand up paddling (unless you have someone to pick you up downstream). We would have been better off renting kayaks for the day. There are numerous small outfits that will pick you up wherever and whenever you want at very reasonable rates.

We enjoyed a light breakfast at a bakery not far from the hotel, then made our way to Clos de Luce - the former home of da Vinci. While the house and its history are interesting (including da Vinci's relationship with King Francis I - perhaps familiar to fans of The Tudors), It's the basement and the adjacent building that captivated our scientific and historical interests. In both places you can see da Vinci's drawings, the history of the deployment of his inventions (many of which were not actually built for hundreds of years), and many modern constructions of his more interesting inventions. Clos de Luce is definitely worth the price of admission.

After a couple of hours there, we were hungry and walked back towards the center of the old town along the walls of the Chateau d'Amboise which dominates the entire village. We spotted an interesting sign pointing down a side street and had an excellent lunch at a restaurant called Le Parvis. Almost all of its dishes were prepared in a wood-fired oven.

That afternoon we took a ride to Chenonceau, one of the most famous Chateaux in the Loire Valley. In addition to the spectacular gardens and a labyrinth/maze, the chateau itself is worth the stop. New since my last visit in 2000 is a hall where the history of the chateau is recounted on story boards in multiple languages. We spent a lot of time here learning about the intrigues in the courts of Francis I and others and how the chateau was a pawn in sensitive political negotiations. It also appears to have been the home to the roots of the feminist movement in France started by Louise-Marie Dupin de Chenonceau (1706-1799!), who hired Rousseau to write a an encyclopedia about the second sex, proving their equality to men.

The great halls, tapestries, and bedrooms were fascinating, but I think Karen was most intrigued by the kitchens and, of course Louise-Marie Dupin. ​

Chenonceau from across the Cher river

Karen in the center of the labyrinth

One of the spectacular gardens

A view of one of the kitchens

The next day, with record temperatures forecast (104 degrees - 40 C), we decided to visit the Chateau d'Amboise as soon as they opened, then to stop at Loches on our way back to Guethary.

The Chateau d'Amboise was Francois I's castle. Over the centuries it has undergone many changes, most of which are depicted both inside and outside the castle. As I've mentioned, it really does dominate Amboise and looking downward, you can see the many homes and shops built during the 15th century. Looking up from the village, you can't help but be a bit intimidated by the castle's presence. I'm sure that was a calculated effect.​

Chateau d'Amboise from the Loire

The face of the Chateau above the Loire

Gardens on the Chateau grounds

The Chateau Chapel where da Vinci's remains reside (they hope)

The tower/fortress with the dungeon across the courtyard

After visiting the Chateau, we checked out of the hotel and made the 45 minute drive to Loches. I had been there in 2000 and remember being quite impressed. This time was a bit different as the site is much more developed with a souvenir shop and more historical signage, much of it focused on disabusing us of the notion that the torture chambers were used extensively. Nonetheless, the chateau and in particular, the dungeon were worth the visit.

Built in the 9th century, little remains of the main fortress. The block-shaped building in the picture is largely an empty structure inside. You can see where the floors used to be and signs document what each of the many levels was used for. Still, the best part is the underground dungeons. Across the path is the entrance. You begin to descend a spiral stone staircase and after a minute or two, you encounter the first of the cells where prisoners where kept and tortured. After continuing downward past more and darker cells, you eventually enter a subterranean cavern from which you will ultimately exit. Apparently, the area is riddled with these caverns and for centuries, they were quarried.

We left Loches and the Loire Valley heading south towards the Pays Basque as the temperatures started to soar.

Will we go back to visit the Loire Valley? Probably not. We learned about the history of the area, saw the chateaux, and enjoyed our visit, but largely because it's a major tourist destination, it's not what we think of as the most inviting region of France. While we do cycle, we didn't cycle the Loire Valley. However it's worth noting that many of the roads there have large, well-maintained bike lanes, perfect for those who want to do bike trips which include visiting chateau and sipping the wines of the Loire Valley.

Returning home to our little village in the Pays Basque, we were pleased to find that the ocean breezes had cooled that area. After a quick shower, we made our way to Tantina de la Playa where we were warmly greeted by the always very cool staff and had an excellent dinner to wrap up our trip.